In presenting to the public this "Memorial
of the Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of
Berwick Academy" I am aware that the records of such a delightful day need
little comment.

The general and lasting interest in our great
occasion was only another sign of the interest that has always been felt
by the town and neighborhood in the affairs of this long-established school,
as well as by those of us who have been its pupils. We who can join the
deep and tender remembrance of our own youth to our later sense of the
value of good influences found ourselves possessed of unexpected sentiment
about the academy. In the business and simplicity of daily life, perhaps
from an inheritance of that principle of repression and severity so marked
in our forefathers, we New Englanders are almost surprised by our own great
enthusiasms and overcome with the joy of yielding to their impulses. Once
awakened, however, - once made self-forgetful by the depth of our love
and pride in something that touches the history or welfare of country,
state, or town, repression of feeling is swept away as by a flood, and
there is felt the beating of a common heart, thrilling the least vein of
common life. A new expression comes to each face, a new warmth of affection
shines in every eye; whatever has seemed selfish and trivial is forgotten;
whatever has seemed prosaic and familiar is by some lovely enchantment
made poetic and carried higher, and makes possible the keeping of a great
festival.

Naturally this reunion of the academy students
was of greatest interest to the elderly persons who were present. Such
an occasion has naturally less sentiment for young people whose separations
have been of shortest duration, and whose meetings and common experiences
have been the rule of their lives, not the exception. A very large number
were assembled of those who might justly be called the old scholars, and
their eager greetings and delighted recognitions of one another were pleasant
to hear and to see. Several of these earlier pupils were heard to say that
they had come to the celebration with reluctance, being afraid that they
should find none of their old companions and that the day would be sad.
This did not prove to be true in any case, so far as was known. Nobody
found himself alone at the feast; in fact, the older people made most effort
to be present, and really had the best of the pleasure. It was delightful
to hear the reminiscences, the merry talk of old schooldays, and the tender
words of remembrance for those whose faces were missed. The day was far
more significant to those of us who were rich in the memory of our years
than to those who were looking forward along the way of life.

There were at least a thousand in the great
assembly. The long line of the procession reached nearly from the church
to the hill. Beside the former students there were many invited guests.
More than one pupil of Berwick Academy must have been deeply moved, even
to tears, at his first glance at the simple old school building, which
seemed to stand in its place with new dignity - almost with personality
- to welcome its great brood, - Alma Mater that gathered us men
and women her children, back to her side.

In the village a fine spirit of hospitality
was as evident as the spirit of interest and pleasant association with
which those returned who had grown to be strangers since the time of their
schooldays. Even the old remembered trees seemed to wave a welcome. It
is safe to say that nobody found himself quite forgotten in the town, and
though many names might be repeated here of those who received a special
welcome, all were welcomed, and each one added something to the common
store of enjoyment.

And now it were well for those of us who believe
in the future of Berwick Academy as well as in its past, to cast a glance
forward. We believe in the preservation of its time-honored traditions,
in the guarding of its individuality. Again and again this has been assailed
with plans which have seemed, to some warm friends, full of promise. The
modern system of graded schools, or at least the responsibility of some
one beside the trustees and the teacher; the guardianship of the town,
of the State, have in turn been held up for admiration, but this ancient
school has held bravely on its way. Its plan has given large liberty to
the best teachers, and has held somewhat in check those who would degrade
its work. It is safe to say that there has never been a teacher of any
sort of cultivation or distinction, social or intellectual, who possessed
the gift for teaching, and made a conscientious use of it, who has not
found the community responsive to his efforts. Seasons of the school's
decadence have always been recognized and deplored, and the memory of the
brighter years, the presence of those instructors who are truest to their
high calling, is sure to be gratefully acknowledged in their turn. To say
that our academy has not in the main held bravely to the high hopes and
standards of its founders would be unjust. They gave it a dignity and respectability
out of their own character which could not be easily lost. Their own respect
for culture, and their own desire for a recognition of the higher duties
of life, gave the school to their descendants and shaped its career with
the simplicity and reasonableness which all really good things must have.
The touching earnestness of the early records, the eagerness to keep in
touch with the best civilization that was possible to provincial society;
yes, and a longing to put it into the power of the young people of that
day "to know the best that has
been thought and said in the world," - these things are plain to discover.
The planting of Berwick Academy was done with good intent.

While to a certain extent it must be ranked
as a fitting-school for the colleges and hold its modest place below these
and above the common schools, yet to many and many a pupil it has given
his last opportunity for instruction, and so has held the final chance
of directing and developing his young ambitions. Many a man and woman owe
their success in life largely to the impulse here given, to the expectation
of the academy that her children will go out into the world to follow duty
and to learn truth. The fact that so many men and women have made themselves
known and respected by the help of these same advantages has been a great
stimulus to their successors. At the time of the celebration it was observed
that the pupils of certain teachers were of better development in social
and intellectual activity than those of others. Some were evidently living
on a higher spiritual level, as if they had been taught by precept, if
not by example, the truth, that it is far better to know how to appreciate
than to criticise, and as if their early advantages had enabled them to
say as Thoreau did: -

Above the character of students or principals,
however, stands the character - I had almost said personality - of the
academy itself. Part of this has come to exist because of its age and continuance
through so many years, and the natural development which has been so much
better than any amount of experiment and change. We restless Americans
are apt to forget that something more is usually much better than
something else. But there is no doubt that the best teachers of
our beloved school have always been helped, not hindered, by following
its old traditions, and by being in sympathy with its plain ambitions,
not trying to make it other than its nature would direct. There was a time
when one often heard the academy spoken of as too conservative, and inferior
to the high schools that sprang up under its shadow; but it has lived on,
though often poor in purse, to have thoughtful people recognize that it
could give a beautiful gift to its children, to see the high schools criticised
in their turn, and even denied their once vaunted perfection. The gifts
of the academy's founders and benefactors render more benefit to us her
students than we often stop to reckon; the example of those who have best
made use of these gifts serves us better year by year. May it be counted
every year, and for every good reason, a higher honor to call one's self
a Berwick Academy scholar.

Perhaps we were all in danger of feeling that
the academy was of narrow and local interest until a response came to the
invitation of its secretary from not only the shores of our own river,
but from all over the United States and many parts of Europe, from China
and South America, and many far away corners of the world. We thought of
the interest of the day as depending almost wholly upon what we of the
town could do ourselves, but some of the best-known men in our country
came and spoke to us eloquently of what the old steadfast school had done
in the past, making noble suggestion not only by their words, but by themselves
and the inspiration of their presence. We were hardly willing, after our
great day was over, to let it be said that ours was one of the old country
academies, but there was a new eagerness in our hearts that it should hold
its place as the representative country academy, a model for all the rest.
We had hardly taken it in that we counted four college presidents and three
governors on our roll, and many college professors and eminent teachers,
men and women both; highly accomplished men of professions and men of affairs;
soldiers, sailors, and statesmen of renown; and women who in their ever
widening public service and beautiful, influential home-keeping lives,
have been among the true leaders of civilization
in their time.

President Eliot said not
long ago that the fruit of a liberal education is not knowledge or learning
but a thirst for knowledge and a capacity for learning, and Mr.
Lowell tells us in one of his great essays that, after all, the
better part of a man's education is that which he gives himself; but
adds, "it is for this that a good library should furnish the opportunity
and the means." So the truth comes to us once more from a great authority
upon matters of education, and from a great scholar, that the best thing
we can expect from our schools is not so much the actual acquirement but
the direction and stimulus of growing minds. These must come from the personal
example and influence of the teacher, and from the spirit of the school.

The history of Berwick Academy as recorded
in this memorial of the one hundredth anniversary of its foundation, and
the long list of names of those who have gone out into life sincere, awakened,
uplifted to their high duties and responsibilities, should make us hopeful,
nay, confident of continued vitality and usefulness in the years to come.
The increased accommodations that are soon to be offered the school in
its house and home will be sure to attract many who have not been aware
in other ways of its aims and reputation, but we must never forget that
even these great advantages cannot of themselves make a great school and
place of learning; they are only the body, not the soul. It is the largeness
of view, the enriched personality and unselfish sympathy of those who have
it in any way in charge; it is the sincerity of the students, their respect
for their opportunities, their happiness and their sober-mindedness, that
make together the school's soul, and can maintain as nothing else can its
noble character.

Sarah Orne Jewett.

Notes

A Memorial of the One Hundredth Anniversary
of the Founding of the Berwick Academy South Berwick, Maine was published
on July 1, 1891 by the Riverside Press of Cambridge, MA. The Berwick Academy
was founded in 1791 (See Jewett's "The Old Town of Berwick" part three).
Jewett contributed several pieces for The Berwick Scholar, the school
magazine founded in 1887. She helped with the Centennial arrangements of
her alma mater, contributing to the Scholar an article, "The Centennial
Celebration" in v. 4 (March 1891). Jewett's preface to this volume is available
courtesy of Jean-Paul Michaud of the New York Public Library. If you find
errors or items needing annotation, please contact theller@coe.edu.
[ Back ]

the best that has been thought and said in
the world: See Matthew Arnold's preface to Literature and Dogma.
"Matthew Arnold, b. Dec. 24, 1822, d. Apr. 15, 1888, was a major Victorian
poet, the principal English literary critic of his generation, an important
commentator on society and culture, and an effective government official.
His father was Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School." (Source:
Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia).
[ Back ]

Thoreau ... "I hearing get who had but ears;
/ And sight, who had but eyes before": The following stanzas are from
"Inspiration" by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862).

But now there comes unsought, unseen,
Some clear divine electuary,
And I, who had but sensual been,
Grow sensible, and as God is,
am wary.

I hearing get, who had but ears,
And sight, who had but eyes before,
I moments live, who lived but years,
And truth discern, who knew
but learning's lore.
[ Back ]

President Eliot: Charles William Eliot,
(1834-1926) was, according to the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia,
"a reforming president of Harvard University and editor of the Harvard
Classics." The source of the quotation has not been found.
Help is welcome.
[ Back ]

Mr. Lowell tells us in one of his great
essays that, after all, the better part of a man's education is that which
he gives himself; but adds, "it is for this that a good library should
furnish the opportunity and the means.": James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)
was a poet, editor, professor and diplomat. The source of this quotation
has not yet been found. Help is welcome.
[ Back ]